Marital strife, foreign intrigue and violent fantasies are all the rage this December, as Hollywood empties its bag of holiday gifts. Just don’t expect much harmony and cheer under the tree.

The blizzard of bleak begins next Friday with Darren Aronofsky’s much-anticipated “Black Swan,” in which Natalie Portman and Mila Kunis play ballerinas going toe-to-toe, and it ends New Year’s Eve with Ryan Gosling and Michelle Williams doing battle as a mismatched married couple in the intense drama, “Blue Valentine.” Ah, the holidays, is there’s no better time for fighting?

I’m sure Christian Bale and Mark Wahlberg would agree. They play real-life Boston boxing brothers Eklund and Micky Ward, whose vicious brawls at home rival anything they encounter in the ring. Violent skirmishes, of the computer-enhanced variety, are also on tap for two of the season’s biggest sequels, “Tron Legacy” and “The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader.” But the best confrontations will be the ones between major Oscar contenders like “The King’s Speech,” the true story of how Queen Elizabeth’s father (Colin Firth) overcame a voice impediment; and “Rabbit Hole,” the gut-wrenching drama about a mother and father (Nicole Kidman and Aaron Eckhart) dealing with their young son’s accidental death.

On the less serious side are “Little Fockers,” the third installment in the “Meet the Parents” franchise; and “Yogi Bear,” a mix of animation and live action featuring Dan Aykroyd and Justin Timberlake as the voices of Yogi and his sidekick Boo-Boo.

There also will be plenty to fight over on the indie scene, with a slew of critically acclaimed flicks headed your way, including the much talked about “Tiny Furniture”; and the oddball comedy “I Love You, Phillip Morris,” in which Jim Carrey and Ewan McGregor stretch their acting chops by playing gay prisoners plotting a jailbreak.

And if it’s big, dumb star fun you’re after, you could do a lot worse than “The Tourist.” It’s Johnny Depp’s slightly more sophisticated version of a “National Lampoon Vacation” picture in which the travel gods wreak havoc on his overseas holiday after he hooks up with the ultra-mysterious Angelina Jolie.

I can already feel the temperature rising, just as I can sense a surprise hit or two emerging from the pack. But which underdog will it be? To get you prepared for all the possibilities, here is a quick glance at the goodies Hollywood Santa has loaded on his sleigh:

Dec. 3

BLACK SWAN: Darren Aronofsky’s follow-up to “The Wrestler” is set in the more pristine world of ballet, but that doesn’t mean it’s any less violent or disturbing. Natalie Portman and Mila Kunis star as the combatants, with Vincent Cassel serving as the girls’ hunky director and Barbara Hershey playing Portman’s domineering mother.

MARWENCOL: Ranking among the weirdest and most fascinating of the holiday flicks, is this peculiar documentary about Mark Hogancamp, a young man who was nearly beaten to death by five wilding youths in 2000. When he emerged from the resulting coma, he was a blank slate, his memory erased and his brain damaged. But he used that adversity to literally create his own little world in his back yard. He called it Marwencol and the World War II village became his outlet to vicariously play the hero and the lothario through his surrogate dolls. Jeff Malmberg directs.

Dec. 10

THE TOURIST: This famously became the movie Vanessa Paradis didn’t want her boyfriend, Johnny Depp, to make because she was afraid he would be stolen away by co-star Angelina Jolie. Now, why would she think that? Lucky for us, Depp went ahead and made the movie anyway and reportedly gives an outstanding performance as a Hitchcockian everyman swept up into foreign intrigue during a European vacation. Think of it as “Knight and Day” in reverse.

THE CHRONICLES OF NARNIA: THE VOYAGE OF THE DAWN TREADER: Around the time the kids are tiring of “The Deathly Hallows,” the Pevensie family will be returning to the screen for a little adventure of their own. Or, make that half of the Pevensie family, with only Lucy (Georgie Henley) and Edmund (Skandar Keynes) boarding the Dawn Treader for an adventurous ocean voyage full of dragons, dwarfs and no doubt that annoying lion (voice of Liam Neeson) spewing spiritual gobbledygook.

LEAVING: Kristin Scott Thomas, who has reinvented herself as a hugely successful French actress, gives another riveting performance as a bored physician’s wife seeking to play doctor with a young hunk played by the suave Sergi Lopez. Catherine Corsini directs.

I LOVE YOU, PHILLIP MORRIS: Glenn Ficarra and John Requa follow-up on their script for the cult classic “Bad Santa” with this gay-themed farce about a prisoner (Jim Carrey) who falls in love with fellow con, Phillip Morris (Ewan McGregor), and repeatedly tries to break his beloved out of the big house. Think of it as the intentionally funny version of the unintentionally funny “The Next Three Days.” Leslie Mann co-stars as Carrey’s confused wife.

THE KING’S SPEECH:

When King Edward vacated the British throne to marry his commoner sweetheart, his younger brother, George VI (the current queen’s father), suddenly found himself in power. But there was one small problem: a speech impediment. How he resolved it is the theme of this classy production starring Colin Firth as George and Geoffrey Rush as his loyal speech therapist.

QUEEN OF THE LOT: Fame and love are on the mind of an up-and-coming actress (Tanna Frederick) who opts to use her recent drunken-driving arrest as a means to land her bigger roles. I wonder whom this movie might be parodying? Christopher Rydell, Kathryn Crosby, Mary Crosby, Peter Bogdanovich and Noah Wyle co-star.

TINY FURNITURE: Lena Dunham wrote, directed and stars in this subversive coming-of-age yarn in which she plays a recent film school grad without any professional or romantic opportunities headed her way.

Dec. 17

TRON LEGACY: Not a remake, but an update on 1982’s trippy sci-fi adventure “Tron,” “Legacy” draws a tech-savvy young man (Garrett Hedlund) into a digital world, where he believes his father, the first film’s star, Jeff Bridges, disappeared into when he was just a lad. Once reunited, father and son, along with Dad’s hot gal pal (gorgeous Olivia Wilde) embark on a dangerous 3D adventure through the binary zone.

THE FIGHTER: In what’s sure to be a favorite of Bostonians, Christian Bale and Mark Wahlberg play Eklund and Micky Ward, the troubled brothers who shook up the boxing world in the 1980s, when Micky became a contender under Eklund’s near brutal tutelage. Amy Adams and Melissa Leo co-star in a gritty family drama directed by David O’Russell (“Three Kings”).

HOW DO YOU KNOW: James L. Brooks makes his first foray into directing since he bombed several years ago with the under-appreciated “Spanglish.” This time he’s venturing closer to “Broadcast News” territory with a romantic farce in which Reese Witherspoon plays a pro softball player torn between a cultured corporate executive (Paul Rudd) and a less-refined Major League pitcher (Owen Wilson). Jack Nicholson, who earned two of his Oscars working with Brooks (“Terms of Endearment,” “As Good as It Gets”) co-stars.

ALL GOOD THINGS: In this fact-based story, Ryan Gosling plays the privileged son of a Donald Trump-like real estate tycoon who falls for a girl (Kirsten Dunst) far beneath his social standing. The fun starts when she mysteriously disappears and richie rich’s dad is suspected of having had something to do with it. Murder and betrayal ensue.

YOGI BEAR: Yogi (voice of Dan Ackroyd) and Boo-Boo (Justin Timberlake) get the “Alvin and the Chipmunks” treatment in this yarn about a filmmaker (Anna Faris) making a documentary about the furry residents of Jellystone Park.

BHUTTO: Documentarians Duane Baughman and Johnny O’Hara examine the fascinating life of the late Benazir Bhutto, who became the first woman to lead a Muslim nation when she was twice elected prime minister of Pakistan. During her reign she tried to rid her nation of radicals jihadist, a quest that would wind up getting her assassinated in December 2007.

RARE EXPORTS: A CHRISTMAS TALE: In this dark comedy from Jalmari Helander, an archeological team in Finland unearths the real Santa Claus, who turns out to be more naughty than nice. And when the local children start disappearing, Santa becomes public enemy No. 1. But he’s only half the problem, it turns out his elves are even nastier and they’re coming to town.

THE TEMPEST: Helen Mirren stars and Julie Taymor directs this film version of Shakespeare’s magical-island adventure. The supporting cast is equally strong, with Russell Brand, Alan Cumming, Alfred Molina and David Strathairn exercising their Shakespearean pipes.

Dec. 22

TRUE GRIT: What would Christmas be without a remake? At least this one was written and directed by the Oscar-winning Coen Brothers, who scored a major coup when they landed Jeff Bridges to fill the boots of John Wayne as the irascible Rooster Cogburn. Matt Damon is along for the ride, too, proving a sizable upgrade over the original’s Glen Campbell, while newcomer Hailee Steinfeld is rumored to be even better than Kim Darby as the tomboy teen seeking revenge against the man (Josh Brolin) who killed her Daddy.

LITTLE FOCKERS: The sad decline of Robert DeNiro continues with this utterly unnecessary sequel to the god-awful “Meet the Fockers.” This time Bob is groveling as the grandfather to the little brat – and I mean BRAT – that resulted from the boring union of Greg (Ben Stiller) and Pam (Teri Polo). If, God forbid, they make another one of these money grabs, it should, and must, be titled “Farewell Fockers.”

GULLIVER’S TRAVELS: Sorry Jonathan Swift, but the producers of this potential travesty have decided to defile your masterpiece by reworking the material to better suit a boorish Jack Black, playing a giant among Liliputans.

COUNTRY STRONG: Note to Gwyneth Paltrow: The producers of “Crazy Heart” called and they want their movie back. And they’re not buying your argument that it’s “different” just because it’s you filling the Jeff Bridges role of the hard-drinking, irresponsible country-western superstar. Tim McGraw co-stars as the drunken diva’s money-grubbing husband.

SOMEWHERE: Stephen Dorff gives the best performance of his career as a Hollywood superstar whose life is anything but super – until his ex dumps their 11-year-old daughter (Elle Fanning) on his doorstep and thus provides him with the biggest role of his life, father. Sofia Coppola wrote and directed this plot-free character study and it’s hard not to think of her relationship with her superstar dad while watching it.

Dec. 25

RABBIT HOLE: Nicole Kidman is earning Oscar buzz for her riveting portrayal of a grieving mother trying to put her life back together after the death of her young son. And she does it by reaching out to both her understanding mother (Dianne Wiest) and the teenage driver (Miles Teller) who killed the boy. Aaron Eckhart plays her less sympathetic husband in this emotionally charged drama based on the play by David Lindsay-Abaire. Avant-garde filmmaker John Cameron Mitchell (“Hedwig and the Angry Inch”) directs in what is for him a radical change of pace.

THE COMPANY MEN: In a movie befitting our economically depressed times, Ben Affleck, Chris Cooper and Tommy Lee Jones play businessmen who are forced to re-evaluate their lives after they are laid off from their corporate jobs. Kevin Costner co-stars in this comedic-drama written and directed by “ER” creator, John Wells.

Dec. 31

BLUE VALENTINE: Ryan Gosling and Michelle Williams are drawing raves for their gritty portrayal of a not-so-happily-married couple. The film, like “(500) Days of Summer,” jumps back and forth in time to provide a more introspective look at how two people who have no business being together wound up married. Ticket buyer be warned: There’s so much graphic sex involved that the MPAA has slapped this one with the dreaded NC-17 rating. But decide for yourself if sex between married people is more offensive than a guy getting his head blown off, a graphic act of violence that would probably get a PG-13 from the ratings board.